Dimensions in feet from Jane's American Fighting ships of the 20th Century, 1991

The Cleveland class was a group of light cruisers built for the U.S. Navy during World War II, and were the most numerous class of light cruisers ever built. The ships were designed with the goal of increased cruising range, anti-aircraft armament, torpedo protection, etc., compared with earlier U.S. cruisers.[2] Fifty-two ships of this class were originally planned, but nine of them were completed as the light aircraft carriers of the Independence class, and two of them were completed to a somewhat different design, with more compact superstructures and just a single stack. These two were called the Fargo class. Of the 27 Cleveland-class cruisers that were commissioned, one (Galveston) was completed as a guided missile cruiser and five were later modified as Galveston and Providence-class guided missile cruisers. Following the naming convention at the time, all the ships completed as cruisers were named for US cities and towns.[3]

Technical drawing of a Cleveland-class cruiser.

The Cleveland-class cruisers served mainly in the Pacific Fleet during World War II, especially in the Fast Carrier Task Force, but some of them served off the coasts of Europe and Africa in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. All of these warships, though worked heavily and damaged in some cases, survived the war. All of this class were initially decommissioned by 1950, except for Manchester, which remained in service until 1956, but six were later finished or converted to guided missile cruisers, and these served into the 1970s. The Clevelands suffered from increasing stability problems as anti-aircraft armament and additional radar was added during the war. None were recommissioned for the Korean War, as they required a crew almost as large as the Baltimore-class ships, and those ships were reactivated instead. All non-converted ships were sold off from the reserve fleet for scrapping beginning in 1959. The six that were completed as or converted into guided missile cruisers were reactivated during the 1950s and then served into the 1970s. All, particularly the Talos-armed ships, suffered from greater stability problems than the original design due to the extra radar equipment and top weight. This problem was particularly severe in Galveston, leading to its premature decommissioning in 1970. Oklahoma City and Little Rock had to have a large amount of ballast and internal rearrangement to allow continued service into the 1970s.[4] The last of these missile ships in service, Oklahoma City, was decommissioned in December 1979.